10 Best Kid-Friendly Restaurants in Disney World

If you're heading to Walt Disney World for the first time, it's very likely that you have some kids going with you.

The good news is that there are a lot of kid-friendly restaurants in Disney World.

And the bad news is that there are a lot of kid-friendly restaurants at Disney World.

There are over 200 restaurants in all of Disney World. Unless your Disney vacation will be ten weeks long, choosing where your family is going to eat is a somewhat daunting task.

There are so many choices, often you don't even know where to begin.

Obviously the term "best" is always subjective. And I can't give you an exhaustive list, or we would be here all day.

Here's a "best of" list that's a combination of our personal favorite places plus the most popular restaurants that the whole family will enjoy.

Fun Tip for Dining at Disney World with Kids:
Most Disney World restaurant can accommodate even the most picky eaters.

Even though they're listed on the menu, you can order spaghetti or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Also, if your kids are like two of mine are and don't like sauces, you can always ask for the food to be prepared without the sauce.

Chef Mickey in Disney's Contemporary Resort

Ah, Chef Mickey ... we have such a love/hate relationship with you.

You're overpriced. You're noisy. Your food isn't that great (and from what I've heard, at dinner and lunch it's downright bad).

And yet I still have to recommend you to families with toddlers and preschoolers.

Why? Because your kids will be thrilled to load up their Mickey waffles with chocolate sauce, sprinkles, and whipped cream while they wait to meet Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, and Donald Duck.

And years from now, you will be doing what I am today ... looking at old photos and being really glad that you went.

So yeah ... despite its weaknesses, I still say, go to Chef Mickey's -- for breakfast. Just know what it is (very kid-friendly and a great place to meet the Fab Five) and what is isn't (quiet, or the best meal of your life.)

And have fun!

Cape May Cafe in Disney's Beach Club Resort

Cape May Cafe offers a "Seafood and More" buffet meal at dinner (with no characters) and "Minnie's Beach Bash Breakfast" in the morning, usually featuring Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, and Goofy.

In my opinion, this is a really nice alternative to Chef Mickey, especially if you:

1. Want something quieter and less hectic
2. Are dining with little girls who are crazy about Minnie Mouse but aren't as concerned about meeting Mickey

One thing to consider is that Beach Club is one of the Epcot resorts, so instead of hopping on the monorail to Magic Kingdom after breakfast like you would at Chef, you would (probably) walk about 5-7 to the Epcot International Gateway.

Garden Grill in Epcot

This is another good choice for dining with Mickey Mouse without the chaotic noise of Chef Mickey. Also, Chip and Dale are some of my favorite characters to interact with, so I'm definitely a fan.

We've only eaten at Garden Grill for dinner, and the food is ... fine. It certainly wasn't bad, but I didn't particularly rave about anything.

There are two things that are particularly nice about Garden Grill:

• Unlike many character meals, it's "family style" instead of a buffet, which means you're not all constantly having to hop up to go get more food. Instead, they bring a set menu of food to you, and you can request more or anything that you like.
• The restaurant rotates (but don't worry, you won't get dizzy) and you can see into the Living with the Land attraction. I would highly suggest that you request a table on the lower level so that you can get up and stand against the railing for a closer look any time you like.

   

  Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom

  

  I'm a huge Winnie the Pooh fan (I love both Disney and classic Pooh), so any place where you get to eat coffee cake and waffles and get to meet and actually hug Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore gets an "A" in my book.

  I also loved the decor.

  The girls and I went to the Crystal Palace for breakfast, and the food was quite good, but not anything amazing or unique (which is one reason why kids will love it).

  I have heard slightly less positive things about the Crystal Palace at lunch dinner, including the fact that it's noisier and more chaotic during those times.

  If you do go for breakfast, I would recommend trying to get a PPO ADR (Pre-Park Opening Advance Dining Reservation) OR going at around 10:30am so you don't miss that opening hour at the Magic Kingdom when the lines are the shortest.

   

  Tusker House in Disney's Animal Kingdom

  

  We've been to Tusker House (located in the Africa section of Animal Kingdom) for both breakfast and dinner, and loved it.

  This is another character dining experience where you get to meet Mickey and friends (when we went, it was Mickey, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy, all dressed in safari gear), although is a little noisier and more hectic, in my opinion, than either Cape May Cafe or Garden Grill.

  The menu items are a combination of both kid-friendly basics like Mickey waffles and fresh fruit, plus "African-inspired fare like Egg Curry with Jasmine Rice and Moroccan Spiced Beef. So you can be adventurous and try new things, but you certainly don't have to.

   

  Biergarten in Epcot's Germany Pavilion

  A German restaurant may not sound like the most kid-friendly restaurant at first, but Biergarten has both a fun atmosphere and good food. My kids loved it and specifically asked to go back on subsequent trips.

  They have a show with live music about every hour, which is both educational and entertaining and involves audience participation.

   

  HeidiGW on the DisBoards forum describes the experience well:

  We ate [at Biergarten] for the first time last Christmas. and, we were surprised how much my husband and children loved it. I liked it. We had lunch, and three party members declared it the best meal of the 10-day trip. Everything was kept hot and fresh, and replaced pretty quickly.

  i don't remember it having a kids' only-type section. For lack of a better term, the food isn't weird...if the kids like chicken nuggets, they will like the pork schnitzel ...a little thin cutlet, breaded and lightly fried. It was yummy.

  If they like baked mac and cheese, they have a version of it that was really yummy. If they like butter noodles, the plain spaetzles would be great. Lots of things that look like hotdogs...
  there may have been pizza on the buffet too.

   

  Video -- Best Disney World Sit-Down Restaurants for Kids
  

   

  Cinderella's Royal Table in Magic Kingdom

  Cinderella's Royal Table, located in the Cinderella Castle in the Magic Kingdom, is often considered the most coveted restaurant ADR to score in all of Disney World.

  It is also considered expensive -- because it is. Breakfast can be as high as $65 per adult, and dinner as high as $80. If you use the Disney Dining Plan, it counts as 2 Table Service Credits.

  At breakfast, you can meet Cinderella, along with Ariel, Princess Aurora, and Snow White. At lunch and dinner Princess Jasmine and Snow White are the princesses joining Cinderella.

  We've actually never eaten here -- I didn't even bother trying to get reservations when I heard how difficult it was. And over the years, I've heard mixed reviews. Some people say it's one of the most overrated restaurants in Disney World.

  So Is Cinderella's Royal Table worth the price?

  It sounds like the answer to that question can can best be answered by asking this question:

  Are you willing to spend a lot of money (or 2 Table Service Credits on the Disney Dining Plan) and have mediocre food because you want the experience of eating in the Castle?

   

  KellyArms20 on the DisBoards sums it up well:

  It's worth it in the sense that you have the opportunity to eat in the castle. The character interactions weren't better than Akershus {Storybook Dining in Epcot's Norway]. The only difference between Akershus and Cinderella's Royal Table is the photo with Belle vs Cinderella, respectively.

  I had a steak with shrimp which were good, but my potatoes tasted like Play Doh = inedible. The dessert and appetizer I had were ok.

  If eating in the castle is the main driver, go for it. If it's for the food, skip it. (I enjoy a hot dog at Casey's more :blush:).

  If it's for the characters, go to Akershus if you can manage it, unless Cinderella is a priority. The food there isn't a lot better, but the price is.

  We won't eat there again, but I'm happy we had the one time experience of eating in the castle.

   

  Be Our Guest in Magic Kingdom

  

  We went to Disney World when Be Our Guest was relatively new and couldn't get reservations. By the time we went back, I had heard some mixed reviews about it and chose to eat somewhere else.

  So in this case, I haven't been there, but am just sharing what I've heard.

  Be Our Guest is unique in that it is a counter service restaurant for breakfast and lunch, and a table service restaurant that counts as two Table Service Credits on the Disney Dining Plan. (If you eat during dinner, you get the added benefit of meeting The Beast.)

  Be Our Guest has three different dining rooms: The Ballroom, The West Wing, and The Rose Gallery.

   

  

   

  If you're eating with little kids, here are two tips:

  1. The Ballroom is the largest and noisiest room. I'll leave that for you to decide whether that makes it a good fit for your family.
  2. I have heard that The West Wing could be considered scary to some kids because of the dark lighting.

  Like Cinderella's Royal Table, many people consider Be Our Guest to be overrated. But then I also heard lots of people rave about it -- not just the castle decor, which I would expect people to like, but even claiming that the actual food was fantastic.

  So I wasn't sure what to think. I think Tom Bricker hit the nail on the head when he explained it this way:

  Before we dined here, one thing I noticed is that the guest response to dinner at Be Our Guest Restaurant is fairly divided. Based on what I’ve heard, I would say 70% of guests love dinner at Be Our Guest Restaurant, while 20% hate it, and 10% are fairly indifferent. Part of this is inconsistent food and service quality, something that plagues all table service restaurants at Walt Disney World.

  If I had to guess, I’d say another part of the ‘hate it’ camp is at least in part due to sky-high expectations resulting from the difficulty of getting an ADR here.

  There’s also the possibility that some of that ‘love it’ camp is the result of confirmation bias: after doing all that work and hearing so much hype, some people probably want to love it and rate it more highly than they otherwise would have if they were able to walk-in to the restaurant without reservation.

  My point with this is that you should keep your expectations in check: I’d put dinner at Be Our Guest Restaurant among the top 25% of restaurants at Walt Disney World, but it’s far from the best.

   

  

   

  Ohana at Disney's Polynesian Resort

  Ohana (which means "family" in the Hawaiian language) is located in the Polynesian Resort.

  I love eating at the resort restaurants because you get the visit and enjoy the resort decor even if you're not staying there. The Polynesian, one of Disney's Deluxe Resorts and one of the most expensive places you can stay on property, is a nice resort to get to enjoy!

   

  

   

  The food at Ohana is served family style, which our hostess explained to us as being like "a reverse buffet -- we bring unlimited food to you."

  There are two things I would "warn" you about Ohana:

  1. This is, and should be, a meal that you "experience" and take your time enjoying.Even though you're just two stops away from the Magic Kingdom, I would not recommend trying to squeeze in dinner before rushing out to use your 7:00pm Fastpass for Seven Dwarves Mine Train.
  2. Pace yourself, because you will be getting a lot of of food.My family didn't realize (because they hadn't been listening to me carefully when I explained it to them, ahem) that there are so many courses at Ohana, and they filled up on the Pineapple-Coconut Bread, Pork Dumplings, and Noodles in Teriyaki Sauce ... which was all amazingly good, but at that point you haven't even gotten to the "real meal" of the meat skewers yet.And of course you really want to save room for the dessert, Bread Pudding à la mode with Bananas and Caramel Sauce.

  

   

  One more note about Ohana:
  We went there for dinner, but they also have a Best Friends Breakfast with Lilo & Stitch (and Mickey Mouse and Pluto, dressed in Hawaiian garb.

  If you're trying to decide which one to go to, I would highly recommend doing dinner there instead of breakfast, unless your kids are huge Lilo & Stitch fans and you just can't miss it.

  The breakfast, from what I've heard, is fine, but basically just your average character breakfast. Dinner, however, is where you'll really get a unique experience and great food.

   

  50's Prime Time Cafe

  I'm always curiously amused by the concept of 50's Prime Time Cafe in Hollywood Studios ... how did someone come up with this idea, exactly?

  The restaurant replicates, in very specific and accurate details, a 1950s diner, complete with black and white television sets playing TV shows like The Dick Van Dyke Show (one of my favorites from childhood) and The Donna Reed Show (never saw it).

   

  When we went to 50's Prime Time Cafe on our "Girls Only" trip to Disney World a few years ago, I was expecting the experience to be really fun, but the food to be a less than amazing.

  I was pleasantly surprised at how good the food was. The milkshakes were unbelievable (and huge, easily enough for 2-3 people to share), and my Pot Roast with Mashed Potatoes was delicious.

  Unfortunately, the reserve was also true ... the experience was completely disappointing -- BUT let me explain, because I don't want you to write off the Prime Time Cafe (I definitely plan to return myself), and perhaps I can even help you avoid the experience we had.

  When our server first came to our table, he told us that the people at the next table were our cousins, and that "Mom" had certain rules here, like no elbows on the table.

  After he took our drink orders and left, I grinned at the girls and said, "Okay, this is gonna be fun!"

  Well, sadly, that was the end of it. The rest of the meal was like eating at any other restaurant. The server took our order, he brought us food, he cleared the plates.

  Meanwhile at a big table diagonally to my right, I kept seeing their server come out, say some things that I couldn't hear because her back was to me, to which the entire table would erupt with laughter.

  That table dinner didn't just get a dinner. They got a performance.

  We just got a dinner. A good dinner, but I was definitely expecting more.

  Even worse, Rebecca made a point of finished her entire meal just so she could get a "Club Plate Club Sticker." Our server made no comment about this when he picked up her, so I pointed out to him proudly, "Rebecca cleaned her plate!"

  He gave us a disinterested nod as he carried the plates away.

  On our way out, we told the hostess that Rebecca cleared her plate, and wasn't she supposed to get something for it? The hostess acted surprised and gave Rebecca a few stickers.

  I was so disappointed in our experience there that I seriously thought about writing a letter to complain after we got home from vacation. I was too azy to ever get around to it, though.

  If you're like me and want a "fun show" as part of your meal there, I would recommend you request "a server who is really it" when you show up for your reservation.

  It never would have occurred to me to do that, because ... well, I kind of thought that was part of the server's job and the point of the restaurant.

  I'm looking forward to going back someday, getting a better server, and enjoying the food again.

   

  You might also like:
  Review of 50's Prime Time Cafe in Hollywood Studios

   

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  See you soon,

  Jen

  
  
  

   

  What are your family's favorite kid-friendly Disney World restaurants?

  Now I want to hear from you.

  • What table service restaurants did your kids enjoy?
  • What are some "must-have" items for Disney dining with toddlers?
  • What's your favorite piece of advice for families with toddlers who arechoosing restaurants?